Windhoek rapist jailed 57 years for brutal attacks on girls and women

A Judge yesterday described the 2018 rape of a nine-year-old girl near Windhoek as “heinous, barbaric, and the grossest and most unimaginable form of brutality on any person”, before sentencing the rapist to an effective prison term of 57 years for that crime and other offences.

Judge Dinnah Usiku made the remark in the High Court at Windhoek Correctional Facility while recounting details about a violent sexual attack on a girl that was committed in the Daan Viljoen Game Reserve area west of Windhoek on 26 October 2018.

The attacker, Gavin Gawanab (31), who was found guilty on 14 charges near the end of July this year, cut the girl’s private parts with a knife before he raped her, Usiku said, before condemning Gawanab’s deeds.

During his attack on the girl, Gawanab “grabbed the victim in full view of other children, ran off with her on his shoulder into the nearby bushes, brutalised and raped her”, Usiku recounted.

After the attack on the girl, the police found her covered in blood, deeply in pain and crawling on her knees, as she could not walk on her own, Usiku said as well.

She made the remarks before sentencing Gawanab to an effective period of 57 years’ imprisonment.

Gawanab was found guilty on two charges of rape, a count of housebreaking and rape, three counts of attempted rape, two charges of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm, four counts of assault by threat, one charge of kidnapping and one count of crimen injuria near the end of July.

The crimes were committed in Windhoek and close to the city in December 2012, May 2013, September 2015, September 2016, April 2017 and October 2018.

In her judgement, Usiku found it was proven that Gawanab attempted to rape a minor girl at a farm in the Daan Viljoen Game Reserve area on 22 December 2012.

The judge also found that the state proved Gawanab raped a six-year-old girl after breaking into a room at her mother’s home in Windhoek on 26 September 2015.

Usiku found as well that it was proven that Gawanab kidnapped and attempted to rape a woman in Windhoek on 2 September 2016, raped a woman in the Havana area of Windhoek on 29 April 2017, and violently raped a nine-year-old girl in the Daan Viljoen Game Reserve area on 26 October 2018.

“It is clear that the accused saw himself as above the law and committed these crimes freely and in the open, with no respect for the law or for anyone’s rights,” Usiku commented during the sentencing.

She continued: “Long custodial sentences under these circumstances would not be shockingly inappropriate, as this court needs to send the right message that crimes of rape will be dealt with harshly by courts, and offenders must expect to be dealt with accordingly.

This is definitely not a case where the accused must walk away with a sense of a minor slap on his wrists for what he has done.”

Usiku also said: “Looking at the seriousness of all these crimes, their sheer brutality, the avalanche of crimes committed during this period, it is very clear that the accused must be removed from society for a considerable period of time.

No one is safe, and the court cannot see how anyone can be safe with the accused roaming freely.”

Usiku sentenced Gawanab to jail terms of 20 years, 15 years and 15 years on the three counts of rape, to an effective prison term of five years on the three charges of attempted rape, and to two years’ imprisonment for assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm.

Gawanab was represented by defence lawyer Mbanga Siyomunji.

State advocate Palmer Kumalo represented the prosecution during Gawanab’s trial.

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